1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for guiding the winding of a line, preferably an electric cable, onto a reel, cable drum, or the like.
More specifically, the invention is concerned with an apparatus for winding a line in the form of an electric or other type of a comparatively heavy cable onto a cable drum or reel. During a winding operation, the apparatus is given reciprocatory movement parallel and relative to the drum or reel axis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In winding a line or cable onto a reel or drum, the line comes from a machine which advances the line with a substantially constant speed, or from a storage reel or other storage means. Devices are generally provided to advance the lines. During winding, the line runs through a guide which usually includes two rollers mounted on vertical shafts for guiding the cable laterally. These guide rollers may be adjustable for different cable cross sections and have the facility of moving apart with a spring bias to allow the passage of joints, knots and similar portions of the line having greater cross section. In spite of the aforesaid spring bias of the guide rollers, irregularities in the line can easily bend or destroy the guiding process. During winding, the guide mechanism may either be given a reciprocatory movement parallel to the reel axis, the position of the reel being stationary, or the winding mechanism imparts to the reel a reciprocatory movement parallel to the reel axis, in which case the guide mechanism remains stationary. The stroke of the reciprocatory movement corresponds in both cases to the axial length of the reel so that the cable is wound uniformly across the axial length of the reel.
The reel is usually arranged on a winding means which lifts the reel and gives it a rotating movement. The rotational speed of the reel is adjusted so that a predetermined tension is obtained on the cable. Simultaneously, as reel rotation starts from one end wall, there is provided movement of the reel parallel to the axis thereof at a speed corresponding to the width of the line per turn of the reel. When the line arrives at the other end wall of the reel, the movement parallel to the axis is reversed.
The manufacture of an electric cable is usually divided into a plurality of steps. In one such step, the cable is unwound from a reel, passed through a machine which carries out the manufacturing operation, and is then wound onto a reel by a special winding machine. In such manufacturing steps, tensions and jerks occur in the cable, due to different causes, which disturbs the manufacturing and winding processes.
The winding process is particularly jerky in its initial stages, since the reel rotation starts from a speed of zero. Such effects can also be obtained if the cable is wound from a storage reel on which the cable is unevenly wound, and the unwinding resistance suddenly decreases.
Uniform winding of the cable onto the reel, layer by layer, is necessary if the intended cable length is to be accommodated on the reel, and if the cable is to escape damage, as well as if unwinding is to take place as far as possible without jerks in the next manufacturing step.
It is normally very difficult to obtain an even and proper winding of a heavy cable onto a cable drum, since cables of this kind are stiff, unwieldy and cumbersome. For a user of these types of cables, it is, however, important that the cable be very properly wound onto the drum, without kinks and the like, as it is important for the user that the cable can be paid out evenly and without jerks from the drum. Jerks and other variations in tension may, for instance, occur when one or several turns have been wedged together tightly, due to an uneven winding of the cable onto the drum. These problems result from irregularities in the cable when it is wound onto the drum; for instance, lumps of plastics material emenating from the manufacturing process of the cable will stick to the cable. The entire winding apparatus is subjected to great forces when the cable is bent in accordance with the shape of the drum, and when each new turn is guided close to the adjacent, prior turn of the cable onto the drum due to the stiffness of the cable. It is furthermore important that the drum contain the exact amount of cable it is designed for, and this is not the case if there are any irregularities in the winding process.
An object of the invention is to provide a winding apparatus for winding heavy cable onto a cable drum which is not subjected to great forces from the cable during the winding process, and that furthermore ensures that the cable is evenly and properly wound, turn by turn, onto the drum, thus eliminating any kinks or other irregularities that may cause problems when the cable is paid out from the drum.
Another object of the invention is to provide a winding apparatus for heavy cable that allows an exact amount of a cable to be wound onto a cable drum.
A further object of the present invention is to provide guide apparatus which gives uniform and fault-free winding onto a reel and which counteracts the drawbacks described above.
By "resiliently deflectable" or "flexible and spring biassed", it is intended in accordance with the invention that, on the application of a force, an arm is flexed in a curve formed as a function of forces. When the magnitude of the force decreases, the arm returns towards its unaffected state. In the ideal case, the arm is given a deflection at every point along its length when the cable exercises a load or force onto the arm. Other preferred practical embodiments include a finite number of articulated links.